THE BATTLE OF THE ETFC'S UP NEXT

Enfield Town V Eastbourne Town - Match Preview

For the second successive match Town play a team from the Ryman Divsion One South looking to get one step closer to Wembley on Saturday, this time in the FA Trophy against Eastbourne Town who make the trip to Goldsdown Road from the Sussex Coast. Ady Colwell's team have made a poor start to the season winning only their first league game last week at Whyteleafe 1-0 when down to 10 men for a good portion of the game.

They have been in the Ryman South since winning the Sussex County league on the last day of the 06/07 season and have finished 19th and 13th so far in the league.

In the F.A Trophy they have never won a game loosing 3-0 to Hitchin Town at Top Field in 07/08 and last season being dumped out by the same scoreline at Crowborough Athletic. They do have some cup pedigree as in the 06/07 season when last playing in the Vase they got through to the fourth round before being beaten again by 3-0 at home to Curzon Ashton. In the FA Cup they have reached the 2QR on a few occasions but never got past that round.

Eastbourne Town will be buoyed by their 1-0 win at Church Road last week so will be no push-overs and Enfield Town will need to be at their best to win the game. The cold end wants more than 3 attempts on target this week and supporters will be looking for a good performance and a win to set up an away tie at Woodson Park versus Ware.

FA CUP ROUND-UP

There are still three Ryman North clubs left in the competition and after last night's 2-1 win for Aylesbury FC against Wingate and Finchley only one SSML club. Apparently Wingate's keeper had a stormer to keep the score down at Haywood Way.

Lowestoft Town, Potters Bar Town and Heybridge Swifts are left flying the flag for the Ryman North.

With Leatherhead unluckily going out AET 0-1 at home to Blue Sqaure South Lewes only town's conquerers Walton & Hersham and their local rival's Walton Casuals remain from the Ryman South.

Matches to be played:

Lowestoft Town look to have a very winnable tie playing Zamaretto Midland League Sutton Coldfield Town in front of their big support at Crown Meadow.

Potter's Bar Town make the short trip around the M25 to face Hakan Hayrettin's Blue Sqaure South Thurrock side. The Fleet are having a great season loosing only one game (versus top side Dover) and are 3rd in the table behind Newport County and Dover Athletic so a tough game in prospect for PBT.

The Swift's of Heybridge after their 'giant killing' exploits of knocking out Blue Square South St Albans City face another tough tie at Scraley Road agianst Zamaretto Premier top side Farnborough who are sure to bring a large support with them.

Walton & Hersham face a trip to Gander Green Lane to play Ryman Premier Sutton United and the Casual's are at home to Staines Town at the Waterside stadium.

Aylesbury FC now representing the SSML face a trip to Chesham United who impressively beat Billericay Town on Saturday. The Moles who are managed by ex Aylesbury United manager Mark Eaton and have a number of ex Duck's players in their ranks will be familiar with The Meadow as United ground-shared their last year when Eaton was in charge.
The Duck's find themselves in a similar situation as Enfield FC in the late 1990's being groundless and now sharing at Leighton Town. They are firmly rooted to the bottom of the Zamaretto Midland league and have NIL points. It was never a favourite place to visit for E's fans but it is sad to see Buckingham Road gathering dust and unused at present.

Aylesbury FC are riding high top of the SSML so what price they replace the Duck's at the end of the season which will enhance the local rivalry even more.

There is an ongoing campaign to bring the Ducks home.
More info on http://www.aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk/bringtheduckshome/

The FA cup and league takes a back seat for the time being as it's Trophy and Vase glory on offer on Saturday with the following Trophy fixtures for Ryman North club's:

Barton Rovers V Ilford
Brentwood Town V Great Wakering
Chatham Town V Concord Rangers
Enfield Town V Eastbourne Town
Heybridge Swifts V VCD Atheltic
Leatherhead V Thamesmead Town
Leighton Town V Harlow Town
Lowestoft Town V Redbridge
Met Police V Maldon Town
PBT V Arlesey Town
Ramsgate V Leyton
Romford V AFC Sudbury *Sunday 2PM ko
Sittingbourne V W&F
Soham Town Rangers V Cheshunt
Tilbury V Biggleswade Town
Waltham Forest V East Thurrock United

In the Vase the following SSML teams are involved in heading for possible Wembley glory (it's long way away yet!!):

Biggleswade United V Kingsbury London Tigers
Broxbourne Boro V Stotfold
Burnham Ramblers V Bedford
Cockfosters V North Greenford United
Halstead V Dunstable Town
Hillingdon Boro V Brimsdown Rovers
Langford V Wembley
Levvy Green V Hadley
London Colney V Bethnal Green
Royston V Basildon United
Tiptree United V Harefield United
Witham Town V Hoddy Town

More about Eastbourne Town soon.

thecoldend

On this day in history...

1992

Enfield FC travelled to Colston Avenue to play Carshalton Athletic in a Diadora Premier Division game. The E's won 2-1 thanks to goals from Johnny Bailey and Paul Turner to put them top of the league in front of 502.

The team that day was - Peter Hucker, Lee Francis, Chris Swash, Graham Roberts, Mark Keen, John Bailey, Paul Hobson, Pat Staunton, Paul Turner, Curtis Warmington, Graham Westley. Subs - Gary Britnell and John Docker.

Also on this day Wembley FC who were to beat the E's in the Middlesex Cup Quarter Final later in the season drew 1-1 away to Lewes at the Dripping Pan ground thanks to a goal from Andy Smith in a Diadora Division One game.

The Vale Farm team had a great FA Cup run that year for a team from the then Isthmian League Division One beating Welwyn Garden City, Barkingside, Slade Green and local rivals Hendon before bowing out after a 2nd replay to then Southern Midland division Nuneaton Borough at home when they lost 1-2. Boro lost to Woking in the first round proper who then went on to loose to Brighton and HA after a replay. The Lion's have not been past the 3QR since.

2001

Enfield Town from Middlesex travelled to Hertfordshire to play Sawbridgeworth Town in the Essex Senior League. Town in their debut season ran out 6-3 winners thanks to Stuart Snowden, Bradley Brotherton, Danny Clarke and Kevin Riley with a hat-trick.

Team - Andy Hall, Dave Allen, Vulkan Gundogdu, Stuart Snowden, Bradley Brotherton, Jamie Morris, Mark Telfer, John Ridout, Danny Clarke, Kevin Riley, Ricky Antoine. Subs Jamie Andrews, Nicky Morgan and Bradley Poole.

A crowd of 190 witnessed the feast of goals.

Walton & Hersham 3 Enfield Town 2

POOR FIRST HALF PERFORMANCE ENDS CUP GLORY

Enfield Town were dumped out of the FA Cup this afternoon after a horror showing in the first half at Stompond Lane. Town quite simply didn't turn up in the first 45 minutes, there was no attacking play worthy of any mention. It was very disappointing for supporters, players and management as on the most important game of the season to date Town were turned over by an ordinary looking Swans side.

Basking in the sunshine on a glorious day whilst sipping on bottles of Peroni there were discussions of if we win this one and get through two more rounds we could play at Elland Road, Carrow Road, The Valley or St Mary's. Okay, we were getting a bit ahead of ourselves but we can dream!! Walton & Hersham's club house is more of a pavilion and was very nice indeed.

The Swans took the lead from the penalty spot after Dave Blower appeared to trip a Walton player inside the box, It was a soft foul to give but it was one of those ones you've seen given and not given. The spot kick went right whilst Rob Blackburne went left. 1-0 to Walton

Walton were well on top of the Town side then for the rest of the half and unsurprisingly made it 2-0 when a cross from the left hand side was expertly headed past Rob Blackburne's right hand. He stood no chance and no keeper would of saved it.

Town should of taken the game to the home side and it may have been a different story, Walton were nothing special but were much better than Town in the first half. In fact it was that bad some Town fans took to studying the A-Z to work out a better route home avoiding the traffic jam's on the M25.

HALF TIME 2-0

The second half was slightly better with Roberto Minniti coming on for Stuart Blackburne early on. Stuart had a rare off day but he can be excused as there were reports he felt ill on the team coach. The Italian made an instant impact winning a penalty for another soft looking trip inside the area, Was this the referee leveling things up from the spot kick he gave Walton in the first half??

Rudi Hall converted the kick and it was game on at 2-1. The dream was still there despite how poorly Town had played.

***RUDI HALL'S PENALTY KICK***

Matt Thomson then put a lob/shot towards the goal which for a moment looked like it was sailing gloriously towards the back of the net. Only for a moment though as it flew over the bar past the Walton ball boy who was seemingly disinterested in the game sitting down not even bothering to run to get the ball. Would of it been a different story had the home side been loosing??? The cold end thinks so.

Richard Morton then replaced Paul Marks and Billy Healy for Matt Thomson, Town were playing the long ball over the top and struggling to make any in-roads on the Walton goal. 75 minutes passed until we had a meaningful shot of target from open play when Rudi's shot was blocked into the path of Adam Wallace who passed the ball into the back of the net sparking mass celebration on the far terrace at Stompond Lane from the travelling fans. We had played awful but got out of jail... 2-2, we'd take a draw.

It was all in vain though as the goal of the match was scored by Walton when a free kick just outside the edge of the box was curled over the wall right into the top left hand corner past Rob Blackburne to much disappointment. This was cruel on Rob who was the cold end's man of the match for Town. During the second half he commanded his box and claimed mostly all the crosses put over by the home side.

Near to the end Chris Wild who had pushed forward from the back put a header on target but straight into the keeper's hands.

***Chris Wild's header***

Final Score 3-2 and Town are out of the cup.

Enfield Town were very poor in the first half and that's what put paid to the game, For whatever reason the team didn't turn up. The second half performance was a little better with the players working hard to get back into the match against an ordinary looking Walton team but the fact Town had 3 attempts on target throughout the match tells a story.

The free kick to win at the end of the game was cruel but the FA Cup is sometimes wonderful and sometimes heartbreaking which makes it the world's greatest competition. Maybe next year??

The cold end wishes John Crumplin's men the best of luck in the next round even though he was very dispointed looking at the home player's celebrating on the pitch after the game.

Other Ryman North teams in the Cup had a great day with a good giant killing coming a Scraley Road, Heybridge swifting Conference South St Alban's City 1-0. Lowestoft Town dumped Boston United out of the competition on the East coast in front of a massive 1,134 crowd, the final score being 1-0. Potters Bar Town won easily 3-0 at home versus Ryman South Whitstable Town, Concord Rangers crashed out at Slough Town 2-0 and East Thurrock United lost 2-0 at Welling United. Wingate and Finchley drew at home 2-2 to Aylesbury FC and face a tough replay at Haywood Way on Tuesday night. This result put paid to my single of the week.

The Director's beer influenced treble blew out with Redbridge drawing 2-2 with Tilbury and Leyton somewhat surprisingly being roundly beaten 4-0 at Thamesmead Town.

The Toonstar continued his brilliant record when Rotherham, Rochdale and Notts County all duly obliged with home wins. With Town fans sick as parrots he is reportedly over the moon on the train back from Suffolk following a great 4-0 win over ex Sunderland boss Roy Keane's Ipswich Town side in the Sir Bobby Robson celebration match.

LONG MAY YOU CONTINUE TO BASH THE BOOKIES MR TOONSTAR!!!

The cold end gives up double and treble betting..

As you all know i'm a terrible gambler, I don't have the expertise of the director or the toonstar tipper so I'm giving up putting tips up for doubles and trebles. After my success of Kingstonian winning 2-1 at Canvey last week at odds of 9/4 I'll be concentrating on finding a single bet on a match every week. The rules will be it must be a value bet so it can't be odds on.

This week's single will be my bet of Aylesbury to win at W&F at 4/1 in the FA Cup with http://www.skybet.com/


thecoldend

The Director's weekend treble

I’ve had a couple of lunchtime sherberts and have gone crazy with my selections this week with a treble of away wins paying over 20/1.

Firstly, improving Tilbury travel to manager less Redbridge and I’m backing the away side to triumph over the dispirited motormen.

Next up is Northwood who are at Brentwood. There has been much changing of personnel at the International Arena this week and I think it will take time for the new boys to settle. The boys from Middlesex will prove too strong and should win comfortably.

Finally, the riskiest of the lot in my opinion, Leyton to win at Thamesmead. I was quite impressed with Leyton last week and rumour has it that they were preparing to strengthen further this week. Whilst the game looks like it will be tight, the visitors look exceptional value at 3.30

Good Luck!

odds at http://www.bwin.com


the director

The cold end's weekend bet....

As I stated earlier in the week Spartan South Midland's table toppers Aylesbury FC are 4/1 to win at Ryman North Wingate & Finchley in the FA Cup. These are great odds for the away side who have made a storming start to the season. My money is going on them to pull off a 'shock' at the Harry Abrahams Stadium.

http://www.skybet.com

Toonstar Tipper's weekend treble

Toonstar makes the journey to Portman Road tomorrow to join the fans of Ipswich Town and Newcastle United to celebrate the life of Sir Bobby Robson. It's sure to be an emotional evening in Suffolk with both sets of fan's coming together to make it a night to remember in honor of the legend and gentleman of the English and World game.

It's not the first time Toonstar has packed Kleenex when going away for the weekend but this time it'll be for a different reason as a few tears may be shed.

Toonstar sends us this League 2 treble which he hopes will continue his winning run....

A "sol"less Notts County to beat Port Vale at Meadow Lane.

'Uncle Stu' , '1970's tracksuited father' and the rest of the red and white wizard's fans will be dancing in the streets amongst the shadow's of the Don Valley Stadium celebrating the return of the man they call God, Ronnie Moore. The Toonstar goes for the home side to beat Barnet who have made a good start to the season.

Rochdale to beat Hereford United at Spotland..

£10 pays £45.50 at http://www.skybet.com/

Midweek Match (2)

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

Kentish Town 3 Kingsbury London Tigers 2

This was the first time I had visited the copthall stadium since turning out for Wroxham Park reserves in the Barnet Sunday league in the mid 90's on one of the surrounding pitches. The stadium is primarily used by Shaftesbury Barnet athletics club but is now also home to Kentish Town FC.

With the six brightly lit big floodlights surrounding the pitch, the big concrete posts strutting up from the main stand and the 8 lane running track the stadium has the appearance of so many of the Eastern European stadium's you see in the early rounds of the EUROPA league/UEFA cup, albeit a mini version.

This game was an entertaining one played in a sporting manner by both teams. Kentish Town's keeper must be the fittest in the league as every time the ball goes behind the goal he has to run a fair distance to get it..He probably prefers to play away games!

With about ten minutes gone the home side took the lead through a fine strike from the edge of the box by yellow booted Charlie Kanaris, which went flew past Axinte Valentin in the Tiger's goal who had no chance.

The tigers then had the best of the play for about 20 minutes with Edson Cata and Renars Zarchenko both looking good up front. The later putting the game at 1-1 with a crisp finish past Netanel Elraz in the Kentish goal after some great interchange play which wouldn't of looked out of the place on Match of the Day. Cata then had a shot blocked by a defender in front of goal which he was unlucky not to score from.
Kentish came back into the game and Ossie Barkat will have wanted to have done better when the ball was swept into the box only for him to mis-kick it out for a goal kick when he would of had a great chance had he controlled it. Mariusz Serwin also looked lively up front for Kentish.

The tigers then should of made it 2-1 after a great ball in from Cata on the right Zarchenko found himself unmarked in the middle of the penalty box only for his shot to go straight at the keeper. He should of scored.

Serwin was then unlucky with a brave header which didn't trouble Valentin in the Kingsbury goal and Tiger number 7 Paulius Olisausakas had a shot blocked which was heading for the target. Just before the break Fabion Simms should of sored for Kentish after a great ball into the box he was unmarked on the near post, he mis-kicked the ball drifted across the goalmouth.

Simms made up for this after the break making it 2-1 to the home side with a nice finish into the corner of the goal.

Zarchenko was then replaced by Wadar Ahmedi as he had taken a knock. Kingsbury didn't really look an attacking force after this with Cata doing his best woking really hard to no avail.

A comical incident happened when a Kentish player was laying injured requiring treatment a tiger player on the ball done the sporting thing and kicked the ball out of play straight at the injured player hitting him on the head. Luckily everyone laughed as it was an accident.

Kentish then scored a third when substitute James Lindsey beat the tiger offside trap and lifted the ball over the keeper into the net. A good goal.
**Lindsey's goal for Kentish Town**

Kingsbury came back at Town with Cata adjudged offside when 'scoring' a goal. They then got a penalty following a trip on the corner edge of the box and it was Cata who converted the spot kick making the game 3-2.

**Edson Cata scores the penalty**

Kingsbury were unlucky not to get anything out of the game but they couldn't get an equaliser, Lindsey was also unlucky not to make it 4-2 with a shot on the turn close to full time.

The game finished after about 5 minutes injury time the referee added on most probably for the amount of times the ball went out of play and either another one had to be provided or a player had to run to get it off the track.

The cold end did notice with about 10 minutes to go the spare balls seemed to go missing and only one ball was being used. Was this the home side trying to slow a 3-2 game down or just a coincidence??

Final score 3-2 in this well contested local derby.

What was refreshing to see in a week when a Premiership player has allegedly made racist remarks to a ball-boy and Jason Euell of Blackpool was said to have been racially abused by a 'supporter' this match was played between player's who were White, Black, Asian and Eastern European in a very sporting manner. What football should do is bring people together no matter where they come from or what nationally/race they are and this is what happened tonight. The cold end was happy to see this and would like to say congratulations to both teams for a great game witnessed.

skybet.com price up the Saturday FA Cup games

http://www.skybet.com are offering odds on the FA Cup games for Saturday. In Town's game at Stompond Lane they make us underdogs offering evens for the home side and 15/8 for town to win with the draw being 13/5. It will be a very close game on Saturday and I wouldn't like to bet on it. However, Town do seem to play better away from home so maybe it might be worth a few pounds.

The best bet (like you'd take my advice knowing my record) I think is SSML table toppers Aylesbury who easily beat 3rd placed Dunstable Town last night and have a league record of 6 wins 1 draw and no defeats scoring 14 and only letting in 1 goal in the process. They are also reported to playing very high wages for the SSML level of football and have big ambitions of promotion this season. They travel to Wingate and Finchley who have made a good start to the Ryman North season under new manager Dave Norman, winning 3 drawing 3 and loosing only 1 game in the process. Skybet make W&F 4/7 favs, the draw 5/2 and a victory for the away side at good odds of 4/1 which has got to be worth a punt.

Enfield 1893 who struggled to beat Eton Manor last night in a 1-1 draw are also 4/1 to beat Blue Square South Chelmsford City at Broxbourne. This draw being 5/2 and the away win 4/7.

Lowestoft Town who have been very strong of late are 13/8 to beat Unibond Boston United at home who are 6/5 with the draw being 5/2.

See all the odds at
http://www.skybet.com/skybet?action=GoEvType&id=25

MIDWEEK MATCH

Spartan South Midlands League Premier
Biggleswade United 0 Langford 1

Langford deserved the win tonight at Second Meadow in this entertaining local derby match, The away side drew two good saves from the Bigglewade keeper in the first half and also hit the post after a well struck free kick from outside of the box was saved/dropped by the keeper into the path of a Langford forward who was very unlucky not to score.

Biggleswade knocked the ball around well but didn't have any shots of note and never troubled the Langford keeper.

In the second half it was much the same and it was Langford who took the lead from a corner swung in from the left was headed towards goal and tapped into the net by the Langford forward to much celebration.

Langford continued to be the most threatenting but the score remained 1-0. The away side missed a one on one with the keeper when the player should of done better and made it 2-0. Immediately after this United counter attacked and hit the bar with a shot from Brendan Cowell which would of stolen a point for the home side. However, It was was Langford who held out to win 1-0 who now have the local bragging rights in Bedfordshire.

Thanks to help from Biggleswade Town Council, Mid Beds District Council and the Football Foundation Second Meadow is now a fully encolsed stadium that would easily pass a Ryman League grading. As you can see the new stand on what was the hedge side of the ground is very impressive. Fans of lower league football in the Bedfordshire town are now blessed with two good standard stadiums with Biggleswade Town at the new Carlsberg Stadium and United at new improved Second Meadow.


**Lee Harman scores for Langford

Midweek betting...

The cold end continues to be officially the worst gambler ever and is considering giving up betting, lucky I only punt a few pounds here and there. Stevenage drew and Margate got a great 2-1 win at Vale Farm so no luck tonight!!!

The cold end's midweek bet....

From my gambling mistakes this season so far I've learnt the lesson to keep it simple which i did when selecting Kingstonian to beat Canvey Island on Saturday at 9/4 which wasn't bad, it's the other bet I lost which was rubbish news.

It's silly going for a 5-fold as one team always invariably lets you down. My golden rule now is to bet on doubles as a maximum and hopefully this should do the trick.

Tonight Stevenage Borough who haven't lost since loosing to top of the table Oxford United 2-1 away on 22nd August host Julian Dick's Grays Athletic side. Borough have won 5 out of 5 beating Rushden & Diamonds and Mansfield Town along the way, who are both doing well in the league as well. The former West Ham legend's first game in charge on Saturday resulted in a 3-0 loss to Altrincham, Dicks will obviously be trying to put his stamp on the team and has signed Norwegian Striker Petar Rnkovic in time for a possible start at Broadhall Way. On the road this season Grays have played 5 times loosing 3 and drawing on 2 occasions at Histon and Crawley. The cold end can only see Boro winning here and takes the home side at http://www.skybet.com at 3/10.

Homeless Hendon entertain a Margate side who have had a terrible start to the season at Vale Farm tonight in the Ryman Premier League. Hendon have won 4 of their 8 games scoring 12 and letting in 12 which indicates their back line is not brilliant but Margate have only won twice at home to Boreham Wood and impressively away at Aveley. Margate have shipped 18 goals in 8 games so the cold end can only see the Kent side returning to the coast with a loss. Hendon are 4/5 to win this game at http://www.skybet.com

A £1 stake on the above double of Stevenage and Hendon pays £2.34. Not great money but by keeping it simple I'm hoping it will pay dividends.

Gamble responsibly!!!!

The Magic of the cup is back next Saturday

What could be described as a plethora matches in the Isthmian League, SSML and FA Youth Cup are set to occur this mid-week which the cold end will cover in the coming days.

However, Next Saturday its the return of FA Cup magic with Enfield Town visiting the leafy Surrey suburbs to play Walton and Hersham at Stompond Lane in the eagerly awaited second qualifying round tie. The Swans have had a great start to their season in the Ryman Division One (South) under ex-Brighton & Hove Albion legend John Crumplin who was appointed in the hot-seat during the summer. Crumplin had been managing at various clubs in the Sussex County League achieving some success along the way. They are unbeaten in the league winning 3 and drawing 3 of their 6 matches to date. There cup run to date reads:

PRELIMINARY ROUND - FLEET TOWN (A) 1-1

PREMLMINARY ROUND (REPLAY) - FLEET TOWN (H) 2-2 *WON ON PENS

1ST QR - CRAY WANDERERS (H) 2-1

Beating Ryman Premier Cray Wanderers stands out as a great result. However, the Swans recent record in the cup doesn't make good reading. Last season they lost to Kent League Hythe Town in the Preliminary Round. The last time they reached the 'proper' rounds of the competition they lost at home 0-2 to Swansea City in 1994 in what could be described as a 'Swans derby'.

Older fans of Enfield FC will recall visiting Stompond Lane in the 90's on a few occasions when Walton yo-yo'ed between the Premier and Divsion One. Even older fans will recall matches during 70's and prior.
The cold end remembers a match under floodlights on Tuesday 14th February 1995 during Enfield's championship season. The match featured Brian Stein making his debut for the E's as a 3-1 win was recorded thanks to a Gary Abbott brace and John Bailey. 303 saw this match in which the Swan's defence featured soon to sign for Enfield Steve Terry.

A tough game is in prospect for the Town but the cold end is sure Steve and Del can get the boys up for this one as a win would generate more much needed prize money for the FA coffers.

Before this game supporters can take a look to the future when the Town youth team play in the FA Youth Cup at home to Northwood at Goldsdown Road on Tuesday night.

OTHER RYMAN NORTH CLUBS IN CUP ACTION

Including Town there are 7 of the 21 Ryman North clubs who entered remaining in the world's best competition. The other ties are the table topping Trawler Boys entertain seventh placed in the Unibond League Premier Boston United at Crown Field in a match which is sure to attract a four figure attendance, 2nd placed East Thurrock United take a tough looking trip to Conference South Welling United. Potters Bar Town welcome Ryman South Whitstable Town to the South Mimms Travel Stadium. Concord travel to play Slough Town whilst Heybridge Swifts welcome Ryman Premier Canvey Island (who sneaked through in a last round replay versus Hitchin Town)to Scraley Road. In the last tie Wingate & Finchely welcome Aylesbury FC (not the Ducks) of the SSML. There is one other SSML side left in the competition where Harefield United entertain Maidstone United at Preston Park.

SSML FA VASE ROUND UP

The FA Vase 2nd Qualifying round got under way yesterday and it was mostly a good day for the Spartan teams in action. First Division beat Premier Divsion at McMullen Park with Bedford running out 2-1 versus Hanwell Town in front of a crowd of 38. Town's previous FA Cup opponents Leverstock Green got a good away win at Bicester Town, Biggleswade United got off to a great start beating Herts County league Codicote by 7 (seven) goals to nil. Brimsdown Rovers beat top of the table Colney Heath at the Golsdown 4-2, Ricci Crace got two goals. Cockfosters who "lost" in the last round beat Bucks Student Union 3-1 at Chalk Lane whilst Hoddesdon Town thanks to Richard Howard (2) and Lee Toombs (2) won 4-3 versus Oxhey Jets, London Colney continued there good cup form winning at the Copthall stadium versus Kentish Town 3-2. Kingsbury London Tigers won a cracker of a match 5-4 versus Essex Senior League Takeley, Impressive Latvian striker Renars Zarchenko who the cold end saw score versus Harlow in the FA Cup bagged a hat-trick. If the town need another striker at any point this season the cold end recommends Steve and Del take a trip to Silver Jubilee Park to run the rule over Zarchenko. Langford who had a torrid start in the league this season are improving and put out Hertford Town out by 1-0 at Forde Park, Royston Town easily beat London APSA at the Terrance McMillan stadium which is a mere stones throw from Upton Park where The Irons played Liverpool. Stansted flew out of Tring into the next round thanks to an athletic 4-3 victory and finally Wembley beat St Margeretsbury 1-0 at Vale Farm.

The cold end's new northern team Atherton Collieries lost by single goal in South Yorkshire with home side Rossington Main victorious at Oxford Street.

Finally, spare a thought for Poor old Prestwood FC in the Hellinec League Divsion One (East) whose record reads 9 losses from 9 games. Last week they were thrashed 13-0 at home to Holyport and yesterday they lost by the same scoreline at Didcot Town Reserves. They travel to Pitstone and Ivanghoe next Saturday in the Berks and Bucks Intermediate Cup where the home side can be forgiven about thinking they are confident of their passage through to the next round.

Betting round up........Toonstar wins again!!!

The cold end proved what a rubbish gambler I am today... Lowestoft Town, Wealdstone and Stevenage Borough all obliged by winning. However, Croydon Athletic and Folkestone Invicta both drew blowing my bet out. I think I broke two of the golden rules in 1) keep it simple and 2) don't bet on what you don't know and I don't know enough about the Ryman Division One South. On the upside my single of the week bet of Kingstonian at 9/4 won with a 2-1 victory at Canvey Island. In future weeks I am going to KEEP IT SIMPLE, or follow the high rolling Toonstar tipper who wins more than he looses!!

The director also lost with Potter's Bar turning over The Stags of Waltham Forest and Great Wakering Rovers getting a great result by winning against East Thurrock United.

The Toonstar Tipper with Villa and MK Dons winning earlier had some ups and downs watching what sounded like a great game from Upton Park. Liverpool duly obliged by winning 3-2 and he's won again.

The toonstar's statistics for the season are 3 wins from 5 recommended bets... £50 stake money has paid him out £225.08.. Toonstar is well known for his expensive taste in continental delicacies, no take away curry in front of the X factor for him. He will be dining out on Polish White Sausage tonight with his lovely eastern European lady-friend.

Follow the toonstar on thecoldend.blogspot.com and you could be celebrating like the Toonstar is tonight.

Gamble responsibly



Picture courtesy of http://sportgfx.com/

Leyton 2 Enfield Town 1 (match abandoned)

The cold end is busy looking after the new addition to the cold end fold so couldn't get to East London today. The director was present and sends the following information:

Town took the lead through Gunz Wallace scoring against his old side after about 15mins, Both teams reduced to 10 men (no prizes for guessing who was sent for an early bath for Town) and Leyton were 2-1 up when the game was abandoned due to a serious injury to one of the Leyton players.

More to follow...

Tokyngton Manor FC - Who are they??

Tokyngton Manor are the club who rose from the ashes of the troubled Ruislip Manor at the end of the 07/08. Ruislip were in decline and homeless after loosing their much loved Grosvenor Vale ground. In stepped a man named Terry Springer who heads up Tokyngton Community Centre who took on the old club debts and all knowing he didn't have any players, staff and most importantly no ground. The club was renamed Tokyngton Manor FC after the small relatively unknown suburb just South of the national stadium it now represented.


A new ground was found albeit outside of their home borough at the Viking Sports ground in Greenford.


Since then the club has made steady progress finishing a respectable 11th in the SSML Division One in their first season with a 1-0 victory over Champions Royston Town a stand out result.

This season hasn't been so good with only one league win recorded in the eventful match with Sport London E Benfica (reported elsewhere on the cold end). The club have also been unfortunately removed from the FA Vase after it was ruled they played a ineligible player in their 2-1 win versus Cockfosters. Cockfosters have been re-instated and play today at Chalk Lane versus Bucks Students Union.

The club have also struggled with attendances and last season recorded an official crowd of "1" and regularly record crowd's in single figures.

It appears to have been a struggle to keep the club alive from the ashes of Ruislip Manor. With this in mind all the staff and volunteers at the club deserve high praise for keeping the club going with lots of hard work behind the scenes.

The club produce an excellent match day programme for this level of football. A 36 page programme was produced for their ill-fated game against Cockfosters in the Vase on 5th September. It contains full colour photos and is an excellent read for those interested in the non-league game at our level. Highly recommended by the cold end. Excellent value for £1.00
TMFC currently play their 'home' games at Hanwell Town's excellent Reynold's Field stadium. Mid-week games are on a Wednesday night. The club needs all the support so why not pop down and have a look if you can.

Pictures are of the club's highly recommended excellent programme.

Forthcoming fixtures:

23/09 - Sun Postal Sports (home)

26/09 - Brache Sparta (home)

30/09 - Crawley Green (away)

03/10 - Bedford (away)

10/10 - Amersham Town (away)

thecoldend

TOONSTAR TIPPER'S WEEKEND TREBLE

The toonstar has a heavy head today due to him over doing it at a nightclub on the cusp of East London and Essex last night.

Word of the streets is the Toonstar is allegedly a member of the exclusive organisation called 'the loop' (the first rule of the 'loop' is you don't talk about the 'loop') and was apparently sipping on free champagne for some of the night mixing it with the high rollers and 'z' list celebrities, rumour is someone who knew someone who once sat next to Big Brother 4's Federico Martone on a train journey was present. The Toonstar drowned his sorrows for most of the night following Newcastle United's loss at Bloomfield Road on Wednesday night.

Toonstar comes up with Aston Villa to beat Portsmouth, Liverpool to win at the Boleyn Ground and MK Dons to win away at Wycombe Wanderers in the localish derby in League One. £10 pays £46.20 with http://www.skybet.com/

The Cold End's weekend bet...

After last week's triumph I'm hopefully on an upward spiral... Here is my weekend bet:

I agree with the director that Lowestoft Town will have too much for Romford, Boro went down to 8 men in their disappointing 6-0 cup defeat versus Concord Rangers in mid-week and will want to erase this game from the memory banks by winning versus the Trawler Boys. However, The Suffolk Coast club have only lost once versus Ilford this season (sound's familiar to us Town fans) and beat a good Northwood FC team 3-0 in their last league game. Romford in their last league game only lost by the odd goal to East Thurrock United and have also had a good victory at Redbridge to their name so it won't be easy but I can only see a Lowestoft Town victory here.

Wealdstone entertain basement boy's Bognor Regis Town in the Ryman Premier. The Stone's have drawn 4 of their 7 games so far with a 1-1 draw away at Dartford and a 2-1 home victory versus Sutton United standing out. The Rock's are having a miserable season with only one league victory to their name. They recently beat AFC Horncurch 4-2 at home but I think Wealdstone are better than their current 9th position in the league.

Over in the Ryman Divsion One South Croydon Athletic have won 4 drawn 1 and lost 1 of their 6 games, What stands out is their scoring of 23 goals in six games with 7-0 and 5-0 victories to their name. The Rams travel to the seaside tomorrow to play Eastbourne Town who haven't won yet with two draws and 3 losses. Croydon Athletic should easily win this game.

Also in the southern division Folkestone Invicta are top winning five of six games with not such a good scoring record with only 8 goals. However, Invicta clearly have a good defence and have only shipped 1 goal in the league. They travel to Chipstead who are also winless (3 draws and 3 losses).

In the Blue Sqaure Premier Stevenage Borough travel to troubled Chester City. Boro will be buoyed by a great 3-2 victory versus Mansfield Town last week (coming back from 2-0 down) and will have enough for an easy victoy at the Deva Stadium.

STEVENAGE BOROUGH, FOLKESTONE INVICTA, CROYDON ATHLETIC, WEALDSTONE AND LOWESTOFT TOWN ALL TO WIN PAYS 15.78/1 WITH HTTP://WWW.BWIN.COM

The cold end's single bet of the week is Kingstonian at 9/4 to win at Canvey Island with http://www.skybet.com. The Islander's should of been 2 or 3 down at Zamaretto Midland League Leader's Hitchin Town in their cup game in midweek. Canvey got away with a cheeky 1-0 victory with their only shot on goal. Kingstonian after a poor start to the season have picked up winning 3-0 at Hendon and impressively 2-1 at Carshalton Athletic as well as drawing 1-1 at home with Waltham Abbey.

As always remember to gamble responsibly.

thecoldend

THE DIRECTOR RETURNS WITH HIS WEEKEND TREBLE..

Back to league action this week and I’m going for a treble of away wins paying 9/1

Firstly, Waltham Forest appear to be very overpriced at 2/1 to win at Potters Bar, whilst it will be no roll-over, I predict a very narrow victory for the Forest.

Second up is Lowestoft, who travel to Aveley. The visitors appear in imperious form and Romford could well be demoralised from their mid-week cup dubbing, Lowestoft are priced at 1.85 for the win.

Finally, I’m going for East Thurruck to win the Essex derby at Great Wakering, ETU are in very decent form and lead the table, I think they will just about have enough to see of the spirited GWR. An away win pays 1.80 in this one.

Good Luck

The Director

Odds from http://www.bwin.com

OTHER TEAMS......

The cold end is of course a life long Enfield/Enfield Town fan but as i'm sure you all do always looks out for the results of many others clubs for numerous reasons. The cold end's Scottish team is Montrose who have made a 'storming' start to the the Iron Bru Third Divsion, A very long trip is planned in 2010.

The cold end and the Tottenham Hotspur correspondent also look out for Airbus UK's results in the Welsh Premier for no apparent reason.

I also look out for Rotherham United, due to an old friend inviting me and Toonstar Tipper to watch the Millers play Brighton at the Withdean a few years back. It was the worst game of football I have ever witnessed and it rained with no cover. This was backed up by a very overweight man who shouldn't of been wearing a tracksuit getting up after 20 minutes of the game and announcing to the ground he was leaving the frequent the nearest Ale House, although he put it in more industrial language. The game was rubbish but the night out was very memorable, Me and the Toonstar regularly laugh at the fact we walked (more staggered) towards a pub with a massive sign announcing "NO AWAY FANS" with our friend singing 'ROTHERHAM ROTHERHAM ROTHERHAM', When the door-staff who had witnessed this asked where we were from our quick witted friend stated 'Margate'.... "In you go lads"...brilliant!!

There are many other teams results I look out for (too many to mention) but have never had a Northern Non-League side I look for, so for no apparent reason I have nailed my colours to the mast of Atherton Collieries AFC in the North West Counties League Division One. The Miner's are currently 13th of 17 clubs in the league winning only their first game on the 12th September at home 2-0 versus ECCELSHALL. They commence their FA VASE campaign on Saturday travelling to Rossington Main in the 2QR. The 5-5 draw away to Ashton Town on 22nd August looks like it was an eventful game.

More to come in the following weeks..

Leyton up next on Saturday

After last Saturday's cup heroics Enfield Town recommence their Ryman League campaign with a trip to what most supporters would say are our biggest rivals Leyton FC. The rivalry dates back to the first season of Town's history in the ESL in 2001/2002 when Leyton pipped us to the championship but we got one back by beating them on penalty kicks in the League cup final at Basildon United. It's under ten miles between Goldsdown Road and Lea Bridge Road so this can be officially called a local derby.

Leyton have the 11 points on the board so far, the same as Enfield Town but they have played one extra game. Manager Tony Levoli left after only a few games of the season to be replaced by Craig Edwards who spent a few weeks in charge (but no competitive fixtures) of Blue Square Premier Grays Athletic in the summer. Edwards has also managed Chelmsford City and Dulwich Hamlet amongst others. Their results are as follows so far this season:

EAST THURROCK UNITED (H) d 2-2
Ware (away) d 1-1
Heybridge Swifts w 1-0
GWR L 1-2
LOWESTOFT TOWN d 1-1
Brentwood Town w 2-1
Cheshunt w 2-0

Good results at home to title favourites East Thurrock and Lowestoft Town show they are a strong side and the Town will have to put in a good performance to get all three points. Steve & Del will be eager to put one over their old employers by winning the game.

Up the Town!!

Forgotten Football - Rainham Town FC

Deri Park makes up part of the depressing list of grounds in the London area to disappear in the last twenty or so years. As in so many cases, with the ground went the club and it was no different in the case of Rainham Town FC.

The club were formed in 1945 and moved to Deri Park in 1948 after playing their initial matches at Rainham Working Men's Club Ground. The first match at Deri Park was played against near neighbours Woodford Town who were beaten 4-1.

During the 50's and 60's the club switched between the Delphian League, Athenian League and Metropolitan League. The Metropolitan League in the early 60's had the third teams of most of the top London professional sides. In 1963 Rainham won the shield for the highest placed Amateur side.

From 1964 the club played in the Athenian League Division Two and by the early seventies had sank to the depths of having to apply for re-election. Happier times were to follow when the club finished runners up to Alton Town and promotion to Divsion One was achieved.

The club installed floodlights at this time and on 23rd October 1974 Orient visited Deri Park in a match to mark the official 'switching on', Rainham lost 4-1.

From 1977/78 the club joined the Isthmian League where they were to stay until they folded and went out of business. This season also marked there best run in the FA VASE where they reached the 5th Round. Victories versus Canvey Island, Tiptree United, Crown &; Manor, Egham Town and Diss Town set up an away tie with Almondsbury Greenway where they lost 2-1. Almondsbury went on the beat Burnham in the QF (after a 2nd match as the original tie at Almondsbury which they won 2-0 was ordered to be replayed as the pitch was ruled too small) before loosing out to Blue Star in the SF 4-2 on agg. Greenway were a force to reckoned with in the Vase at that time as in 76/77 they reached the 5th round, 77/78 semi final, 78/79 finalists.

Rainham's best performance in the FA Cup came when they reached the 3QR in 1958 beaing Aveley, Brentwood & Warley and Ilford before loosing out to Chelmsford City. The following season victories versus Leytonstone and Brentwood & Warley moved them into the 3rd QR again where they lost to Woodford Town. In 1993 the club played their last FA Cup fixture versus local rivals Purfleet being soundly beaten 5-1. Also in 1993 the last Vase fixture was played versus Hanwell Town resulting in a 5-2 defeat.

Rainham lost versus Colchester United AET in the semi final of the Essex Senior Cup in 1981/82 and in 82/83 they lost 4-1 to Southend United in the 2nd round of the ESC. They played the Shrimpers again that season in the Essex Thames Side Trophy, two late goals by the football league side broke Rainham's resistance with the final result being 3-2 to the Roots Hall team.

1993/94 was the last season played for Rainham Town in the Second Divsion of the Isthmian League where they finished bottom with a playing record of 4 wins, 2 draws and 36 losses out of 42 games. Shipping 116 goals and scoring only 24. The season was an immense struggle with the club leading a nomadic existance after leaving Deri Park playing firstly at Purfleet and then at Aveley's Mill Field. With no prospect of moving back to their home town the club sadly folded.

Vistors to Deri Park will inform you of a rickety old main stand with a leaky roof that moved if their was a gust of wind. This is what made characteristic old grounds like this one on Wennington Road so brilliant to visit. A far cry from the modern all seated stadia of the FA Premier League but all the more endering with it.



CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE IN ORDER TO READ THE TEXT
source http://fchd.info/

On this day in....

1967
Enfield FC took on Wycombe Wanderers at Southbury Road in the Isthmian League. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Enfield were holders of the FA Amateur Cup at the time and went on the be crowned league champions this season.












1989
In Enfield's final season in the conference the club gained a rare victory away at Cherrywood Road. Enfield won 3-2 thanks to goals from Paul Harding, Nicky Francis and Paul Furlong. Crowd - 903.

Team - Andy Pape, Kevin Mudd, Brian Cottington, Dave Waite, Nigel Keen, Dave Howell, Paul Harding, Gary Smith, Trevor Wilkinson, Nicky Francis, Paul Furlong. Subs - John Cooper and George Dalorto.



2000
In the last season for the E's as we knew them, Jim Chandler took the team to Cherrywood Road to face Farnbrough Town who went on to be champions and gain promotion to the conference. The E's came away with a creditable point in a 1-1 draw thanks to an OG. 725 saw this game.

Team - Jerome John, Lee Harvey, Jay Devereux, Grant Cooper, Johnny Morgan, Wayne Brown, Dave McDonald, Kevin Rattray, James Bunn, Jason Geraghty, Dave Flemming. SUBS - Dominic Gentle, Danny Alleyne, and Ronnie Watson.

2005
Enfield Town entertained Waltham Forest on a Friday night Southern League Division One (East) fixture, A healthy crowd of 387 saw Town win 2-0 thanks to Rudi Hall and substitute Dean Nyman.

Team - Andy Hall, Adam Gant, Paul Campbell, David Allen, Kieron Woodward, Matt Negus, Russell Penn, Rudi Hall, Johnny Morgan, Dean Green, Nial Ritchie. Subs - Steve Baldwin, Steven Mensah, Dean Nyman, Steve Velandia, Bradley Brotherton.

On this day in...........

1988

Enfield FC drew 1-1 with champions to be Maidstone United at Southbury Road in the GM Vauxhall Conference. The crowd of 815 for a Tuesday night game saw Robin Lewis score and gain a point for the E's.

Team - Andy Pape, Brian Cottington, Gary Smith, Dave Howell, Brian Sparrow, John Reeves, Paul Harding, Robin Lewis, Nick Francis, Paul Furlong and Mark Schiavi. Subs - Paul Canoville and Steve Scott.

2003

An cup upset occured when then Essex Senior League Enfield Town won 1-0 versus Ryman League Edgware Town at the White Lion Ground in front of 227. Ian Cooper getting our goal.

Team - Andy Hall, Steve Baldwin, Matt Negus, Stuart Snowden, Graeme Hall, Bradley Brotherton, John Ridout, Bradley Quinn, Kevin Riley, Jason Geraghty, Ian Cooper

Subs - Alan Fenn, Jason Nash, Scott McGregor, Anthony Acquah and Keke St Hiliare.

WHY THE COLD END IS CALLED 'THE COLD END??

To answer the question many people have been asking.............................


The cold end is named after the far end of the ground at Goldsdown Road which some supporters have noticed is much colder than the end of the ground nearer the turnstiles.

Can you think of anywhere better than being freezing cold on a Tuesday evening in February watching a Middlesex Charity Cup game in the pouring rain......where else would you want to be??? THE COLD END

QUE SERA, SERA

Enfield Town continued their cup run this afternoon with an excellent 1-0 win at Waltham Abbey. Rudi Hall scored our goal in the first half via the penalty spot. Riding their luck with Abbey hitting the woodwork a couple of times the Town done the job with what was described as a good hard working team performance. The cold end missed the feast of cup football today so can't bring you any more information. All I can say is well done to all and that we're in the hat for Monday's 2nd Qualifying round draw along with Enfield FC 1893 who face a replay at Halstead on Tuesday following a 3-3 draw at Broxbourne this afternoon.

Elsewhere, other teams from the Ryman North also competed for cup glory with VCD Athletic being thrashed 5-0 at Southern League S&W AFC Totton and Waltham Forest going down by 1 goal at Boreham Wood. Ware were roundly beaten 4-1 by fellow Ryman Norther's East Thurrock United with Thamesmead Town being 'royally' beaten by Windsor&Eton 2-1 at home.
Along with Town and East Thurrock the only other team to definitely make it through to the next round were Lowestoft Town who won 3-1 at home to Dereham Town in front of a massive 779 attendance.

There were lots of stalemates with Potters Bar Town replaying against Aylesbury United after drawing 0-0, Heybridge Swifts drew 1-1 at home to Stanway Rovers, Northwood and Wingate & Finchely fought out a 2-2 draw and Romford travel to Canvey Island on Tuesday to replay against Concord Rangers after drawing 1-1 this afternoon.

The SSML teams left in the competition had a mixed afternoon. The Tigers of Kingsbury after beating Harlow Town in the last round were beaten 5-1 at Bedford Town with the impressive Edson Cata getting their consolation goal in front of 295. Royston Town went down 2-1 at Flackwell Heath with Harefield United causing an upset by beating Ryman North Maldon Town 3-1. Aylesbury FC replay versus Erith Town after drawing 3-3 in Kent. The result of day has to be Division One London Colney gaining a 1-1 draw at home versus Ryman Premier (three steps above them) Aveley in front of 102.

Elsewhere in the league Brimsdown Rovers won 1-0 at home to Broxbourne Boro thanks to Ricci Crace's goal. Colney Heath showed their title credentials by winning 8-3 at Tring Athletic and moved top of the league with it. The cold end's league result of the day came at Creasey Park where St Margaretsbury won 2-1 at previously top of the table Dunstable Town. In Division One Sport London E Benfica lost 2-0 at Crawley Green and are still without a win, Jose Viana will get a win sooner rather than later!

BETTING ROUND-UP

Toonstar's bet blew out last night with Leeds United's draw at Roots Hall with the two other matches he chose being draws as well.

The best news of the day is that the cold end is no longer a LOOSER. My fourfold bet came in with Sunderland, WBA, D&R and R&D (just 5-4..what a game that must of been) winning. Not in profit yet but hopefully this will start a winning run.
______________________________________________________________
So, who do Town fancy in the draw.... Enfield 1893 if they can win their replay, Bognor Regis were knocked out by Kingstonian today so that seaside town is out. Margate are still in the hat but replay versus Sutton United on Tuesday at Gander Green Lane so Town fan's could face a trip to the seaside town of the garden of England...Whoever Town get the team will give them a good game!!! QUE SERA, SERA.........

The two Lowestoft rival teams of Town and Kirkley&Pakefield (won 2-1 at St Ives Town) are still in the hat....What price they are drawn together and what sort of crowd would that glory fixture pull in??

thecoldend

THE COLD END'S WEEKEND BET

The cold end has had a busy week so hasn't had enough time to look at who's playing who, so with a glancing look over the fixture list goes for the following fourfold which pays £8.40 for a £1 stake with http://www.skybet.com/

Sunderland to beat Hull
WBA to beat Plymouth Argyle
D&R to beat Chesterfield
R&D to beat Grays Athletic

Remember gamble responsibly which usually means don't take my advice.

the cold end

The Toonstar Tipper's treble

Rumour on the mean streets of East London is that Toonstar is as good as predicting the future as Derren Brown..

Toonstar goes for a league 1 treble this weekend of Leeds to win at Southend United tonight, Huddersfield to beat Brentford and Charlton to beat Southampton tomorrow afternoon.

TT has a £10 stake with skybet.com which pays £55.51.

**The cold end apologises to TT for not getting this tip on the blog sooner as the game at Roots Hall has already kicked off (only just) but it's been a long couple of days in the cold end household and it will be for the next few days as well..those of you who know the cold end will know what I mean**

FA CUP GLORY UP FOR GRABS IN LOCAL DERBY

Enfield Town travel the short distance to play Waltham Abbey tomorrow in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round. Abbey were promoted via the play offs to the Ryman Premier last season and have recently appointed ex Ware and Harlow Town manager Glen Alzapiedi in the hot-seat, They have won 1, drawn 4, and lost 2 of their opening 7 games. Their one victory coming via a 2-1 win away against Bognor Regis Town on 29th August., Last week they drew 1-1 against an improving Kingstonian at Kingsmeadow. Harry Elmes has been in good form scoring 3 goals in 5 starts.

Last season Town beat Abbey 2-0 on 27/12/2008 at Goldsdown Road thanks to goals from Rudi Hall and Jeff Hammond, In the return match on Easter Bank Holiday Abbey won 1-0.

It'll be a tough battling game at Capershots but the cold end hopes Town can pull off a victory to continue our FA Cup run.

UP THE TOWN!!!

AN INTERVIEW WITH "THE OTHER SPECIAL ONE"

Sport London E Benfica are now into their third year as a member of the Spartan South Midlands League Division One. Since making the move up from a very successful period in the Middlesex County League the only Portuguese club in senior football have made steady progress finishing 8th and 18th last season. The start of this season hasn't been ideal with a record of loosing 6 and drawing 2 of their opening 8 games. Their 2 points coming from a 2-2 draw at home to Bedford Town Reserves and a 3-3 draw away at Sun Postal Sports.

Regular readers will know that the club is a favourite of the cold end. Having seen the team's recent performance in the 2-0 defeat at Ampthill Town on Tuesday in a game where they hit the post once and the cross bar twice luck clearly just wasn't on their side. A win and progress up the league will come soon if they keep playing as well as they did in this game.

Jose Viana the club's manager was labelled the 'special one' by the Willesden Times due to the success in their inaugural year of playing in the English National League System, this being down to his first name and nationality being shared with a certain ex Chelsea manager. Jose prefers to be referred to as the OTHER special one as in his words "we are many! We are all special in our own way!".

The cold end is very thankful to Jose for answering the following questions on the club and his time in football:

What is your football history? Did you play and who for?
Not having made it to a higher level in football, I can only claim to be an average player although any promise I had was hampered by having fractures on both ankles and on my tibia and fibula, a product of a nightmare tackle from a burly defender who wasn't too happy getting nutmegged twice by an 18 year old. It needed an operation and at the time it wasn’t an option for me. I still played in local sides, mainly Portuguese Amateur teams heavily strapped.

I turned to management at an early age in 1996 when an Under 16 side was invited to represent Portugal in a small tournament at the Notts County ground during Euro 96. This group of players were then going to be disbanded after the tournament but they were such a good group I attempted to keep them together playing in various tournaments. Until recently, some of these players still play for me now.

One such tournament was the Inner City World Cup where Portugal were always viewed as one of the favourites. The very last year we took part, we were in a very strong position to reach the final at least but the organisers turned away our protest at the opposition not wearing their registration bands. We left and never returned.

And so onto Benfica. The club wanted a new manager. I was invited by the club to take over. I put down what I expected from the club and the ambition the club demanded. It was agreed and we set off on an adventure of new discoveries.

Changing from Sundays to Saturdays was no mean feat and the Middlesex County Football League was a great stepping stone to learn from. We were placed in Division 1, playing at Birbeck Sports Association and won it in our 1st year. We were then promoted to the Premier Division and were Champions again in our second. As we had ground shared with Hanwell Town that season, we were able to rise to the Spartan league and came a respectable 8th in our 1st season. I must make a special mention of the late Tony Kempster, who is partly to blame for our success and had a profound influence on Benfica rising up the ladder.

During my time at Benfica I have also coached Years 5 & 6 for a local primary school and for the first time won the Inter School City of Westminster tournament for 2 consecutive years. I also had the pleasure of being present at various professional club training sessions lead by managers such as the late Sir Bobby Robson and José Mourinho amongst others.

Best player seen or played/managed against?
That is a difficult one. Only because I try not to dwell too much on the opposition. I have had the pleasure of working with some great players, some great professionals, too many to mention in fear of missing anyone out.

Where do you see Sport London being in 5 years time?
When I joined the club we had an ambitious 10 year plan. In that plan, we have ticked several boxes including playing in the FA Vase with the FA Cup still to come and other future promotions. We hope to have our own ground within 5 years, be playing at a superior level to the Spartan League together with a strong youth structure with teams going throughout the ages.

Since being a senior club from 2007 what’s been the club's best result?
One of our aims in our 10 year plan was to enter the FA Vase and we were able to enter last season for the first time in the club’s history. One game in particular, against Eton Manor, I would say was one of our best results, not because of the score line as we only won 1-2, but how we played. Against the odds of having our goalkeeper sent off for handball outside the area, no sub keeper, and with our midfield play maker in goal for approx. 70 minutes we scored 2 goals and only let in one at the very end.
The best score line we have had is 7-0 against Brache Sparta last season when we were fighting relegation.

What's gone wrong with the results this year?
Where do I start? It can be traced back to our first year in the Spartan League when things were going relatively well until club politics entered the frame. The promises made when I joined the club were not being fulfilled. There was a small revolution where we lost our clubhouse/restaurant which financed the football and therefore, we had to count on Sponsorship only. We survived the season, finishing in 8th. Not bad for our first year but I can’t help thinking what might have been if behind the scenes things had been different. Last season the club was still getting sorted and money was tight. The credit crunch didn't help. We ended up loosing our ground share despite not owing our landlord a penny. After being offered the opportunity to ground share with Haringey Borough at Coles Park, White Hart Lane, we start a new season, in a new ground, with a relatively new team.

As a manager, I take responsibility for our results this year, although I was away for a month, missing the beginning of the season and pre-season, due to my mother being diagnosed with cancer, my assistant and coach took over. August is traditionally a bad month for us as we generally have a lot of absentees due to holidays. We ran trials and attracted some promising young players who we have kept on, in return for their hard work. Slowly, we have been introducing back the more experienced players and once those players are all back we will have a very strong mix of players, that will be well drilled, hard-working and hopefully, technically able to take on the long season to come. Despite our present position, I still feel we will be there or thereabouts come April 2010.


Sport London, in their quest for a win have the following forthcoming fixtures:

Saturday 12th September 2009 - Crawley Green (away)
Tuesday 15th September 2009 - Amersham Town (away) Div One Cup
Saturday 19th September 2009 - AFC Dunstable (home)
Wednesday 23rd September 2009 - Amersham Town (home)
Saturday 26th September 2009 - Hadley (away)
Saturday 3rd October 2009 - Cockfosters (away)
Saturday 10th October 2009 - Park View (away) Middlesex FA - Intermediate Cup Round 1
Saturday 17th October 2009 - Brache Sparta (away)
Saturday 24th October 2009 - Cranfield United (away)

The club play their midweek home games on a Wednesday at Coles Park and it's only £3 entrance. The cold end recommends a visit to see the team play as the games I have seen so far have always been very entertaining. Well worthy of visit!!!

The cold end wishes Jose, his coaching staff, the team and all those associated with the club all the very best of luck for the rest of the season.

Random Midweek Games - 8/9/2009

Ampthill Town 2 Sport London E Benfica 0
SSML Challenge Trophy

Ampthill Town's ground is very nice and picturesque with tree's surrounding near enough the whole perimeter. The main stand is above the level of the pitch making viewing of the match great with the crowd looking down onto the game (very much like the view you used to get at Edgware Town's White Lion Ground)

The game was just about shaded by Sport London who looked a much better organised team from when the cold end had last seen them play versus Tokyngton Manor in August with them hitting the bar once and the post twice as well as drawing a great save from the Ampthill Town goalkeeper.

In the second half a defensive mix up by SLEB let in Ampthill to score their first goal. The home side went down to ten men just afterwards when one of their player's was sent off for a second bookable offence following a innocuous looking challenge. In the closing minutes of the game Ampthill broke the SLEB offside trap and scored a 2nd to put the game out of reach.
Sport London look a very fit side and as stated are now much better organised so their first win of the season should come sooner rather than later, Maybe away at Crawley Green on Saturday.


Sport London hit the bar

Sport London hit the post

TEN OUT OF TEN FOR THE COLD END

Ten of ten Loosing bets!!! Eastleigh winning at Bath City and Cambridge United failing to score versus Altrincham put paid to my bet tonight. I'm beginning to think i'll never win

The cold end's midweek bet...

Nine bets and Nine losses so far this season. Tonight is the night my luck changes:

Cambridge United won 7-0 at home to poor already relegation haunted Forest Green Rovers on Saturday and are starting to look strong under Martin Ling. They play Altrincham at the Abbey Stadium and the cold end can see nothing but a home win in this one. It'll be tough as The Robins held Kidderminster Harriers at Aggborough until the 84th minute on Saturday eventually loosing 2-0. An early goal for United will do the trick.

Bath City had a great win 5-1 win at Bishop's Stortford on Saturday with their opponents at Twerton Park Eastleigh drawing a blank 0-0 versus Staines Town at home. Both are similar strength sides but I'm opting for the home advantage to win it in this one as The Spitfires have already lost 2 of 4 on the road.

Finally, Dover Athletic who are third in the Conference South don't have a great record on the road (won 1 drawn 2 lost 1) but have a 100% record at home travel to Thurrock who have a good home record (won 3 drawn 1 lost 0). I'm going for the large travelling support from the Crabble to make this game like a home one for the team from Kent and opting for an away win.

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Can my record change tonight??

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